Just a Small Little Big Girl

Adessa thinks you're only a big girl if you can touch the ceiling. This is an explanation for why she doesn't think she can do various things I ask of her, because she's not a big girl, yet. I hope she changes her mind and does things like dress herself, put her socks on, etc. before she's tall enough to touch the ceiling. She allows that, yes, now she's bigger--three years old!--but she patiently explains to me that she's still just: "a small little big girl."

Her birthday party was lots of fun. It was great to see her new level of understanding: she really gets birthdays. She looked around with glee at us all as we sang to her, so delightful.

Adessa's birthday cake. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and royal icing decorations. It wasn't too stressful, maybe I'll take up cake decorating again. I think the bigger the cake, the more room for error, so small cakes are the way to go.


Adessa and her Romina and their sparkly shoes. Adessa is already dancing on tables at parties, but we'll keep an eye on her. And, yes, she dressed herself. She refuses all fashion advising. Which I'm told is cute.


Gwen and Adessa at her birthday party. Thank you, Sky Park, for hosting our parties.


And that takes us right into summer. Swimming lessons started up, and I'm enjoying swimming with both the girls. Adessa was going to have a class with a teacher, and did fine the first day. For the next three classes, she howled and wailed. For 30 minutes straight, even with me or her cousin, Jordan, in with her. This week I've been in the water with her and we have had much more successful classes (by successful, I mean quieter.) She has definite ideas about what she will or won't do in the water. And this surprises me??

Eliana getting ready for her swim lesson. Modeling her "burkini", full coverage swimwear.


Adessa lounging after her swim lesson, eating a well deserved graham cracker.



I thought it was a good idea to get Adessa a pair of scissors for her birthday, to help with her fine motor coordination and get her ready for preschool. Ohhhh dear. Who knew that she has shredding capabilities Enron would covet? She's a human shredder. We consider renting her out, as she's an ideal little big person to do the job: she can't read, so sensitive documents wouldn't be compromised, and she can cut a regular weight paper into smithereens in under a minute, which are then scattered all over our house as an additional security measure.

Three Years of Adessa Faye

Birthday season continues! Adessa turned three yesterday, June 12th. It is hard to believe how fast it has gone, yada yada time flies. Most remarkable to me, I think, is that I am finally used to having kids. It seems like I've always had them, this has always been my life. What a ride, Adessa Faye. Thank you for all the lessons I'm learning as I try to be a good mom for you, and for all the giggles.
Adessa:
1. sings and dances. With gloves on, she sings and dances as Minnie Mouse.
2. likes turkey and cheese sandwiches with "bananaise".
3. exclaims: "I love ________________." with her hands up to her cheeks. She loves: Teletubbies, her pink shorts, her party shoes, bananaise, smoothies, and Rice Krispies, to name a few.
4. attempts dangerous feats, like a headstand that turns into a somersault, performed on the edge of the bed. Scary.
5. tries to make Eliana happy when she's crying. Adessa will dance and clap and sing for her. Awwww.

We had special (burnt) pancakes in honor of the birthday girl, and she opened one present. We're waiting for Tuesday when Daddy's off work to do her party. (The tutu was her present, you can see it peeking out of her apron.)


Making tuna fish, as it was too hot to cook.


Eliana's contribution to the tuna.


Playing with bindi's the other day.


Outside, ready for summer!

We Have a Walker!

Eliana's really walking. She took her first steps over spring break, and has been working her way up to many steps. She zeroes in on a target destination, wobbles, steps, gets her balance, and makes it! She's so proud of herself. Here she is:




So much fun. I looked back at my blog entries from when Adessa was this age, and she was this much fun, too. Eliana's trying to talk, these days, and carries on long conversations of gibberish complete with appropriate facial expressions and hand gestures. She mugs for the camera, and tries to do whatever Adessa is doing. The cutest is climbing. She'll have her hands above her head holding onto a table or something, but will still try to get her little leg up so she can climb like Adessa. Awww.

She's earned her "Indian Name": Little Big Teeth
This isn't the best photo of Eliana, but I've been trying to capture her fast sprouting upper teeth. They came out of nowhere a few weeks ago and are now hard to miss.


I am enjoying both the girls so much more these days, not sure if it just really does take ONE YEAR to get used to two kids, or if Eliana is so much easier now, or if Adessa is passing through her terrible-twos and threes faster, or what. But its nice to feel kind of normal about having kids, instead of the all-consuming overwhelmed state I've been in. Much better.

Adessa is fun! She is delightful often--telling stories, asking questions, taking care of Eliana, making up songs, pretending to read. We've been doing evening prayers with her, and she is very thoughtful about considering the needs of people we know to pray for. I love that! She comes up with some funny ones, though, like wanting to pray for my watch that broke. I guess God could heal my watch if He wanted to, but we talked about how God gives us the resources to buy ourself a new battery.

We went with my middle school students on a field trip to a local CSA farm, and Adessa was ready for it in her rain boots. That girl had a FABULOUS time plodding through the many mud puddles, and my students had fun watching her,( wishing they had rain boots). The tour ended in the strawberry patch, and we were able to pick a few strawberries. Which made for a really cool moment of near-perfect bliss. It was beautiful, the farm overlooked the ocean, Eliana and Adessa stood in our little strawberry row and were so captivated by the gorgeous strawberries, right there in front of them, and the bugs and birds, and picking and eating berries with juice running down their faces. They both kept checking in with me, enraptured, like: "Is this for real?".

Adessa on the farm.


Kicking at the mud. I kept trying to get down and get a good picture of her, but was wearing Eliana and had difficulty. I think this was the best one? Then the camera went back into the car so I could walk and feed snacks and hold hands, so no pics of the strawberries on my camera. I hold the bliss, though, it was balm to my soul.

Springtime Playdates...

... for moms and kids. We went up to see my college friends, Julie and Josh and their kiddos, Devin and Connor, and Auntie Gerilyn, too. So very nice to get us all together.

Devin and Adessa.


Eliana and Connor.


The gang.

Ellie Ellerson Turns One!

Happy Birthday, Eliana girl! What a sweet, mellow baby girl we have enjoyed for a year. Amazing little spirit and such joy she brings. God grant you many, many more!

Our girl:
Watching the world go by.

Just wakin' up.

Playing around.

Walking around the neighborhood.

Rockin' some sunglasses.

Making her funny face.

Checking out a baby chic at Playschool open house.

The Birthday
Eliana and Gracie (her dopleganger) checking out each others' antennae.

Sliding with Godmama Kriss.

Swinging with Godmama Kriss and the Baillie family.

The bee hive cupcakes, sticking to our bee/garden bug life theme. 8)

Adessa and Gwennie at the partay.

Kissing the birthday girl.

Cake

I made another cake. This will be the last cake I make for a while, since Calvin asked me to put my new hobby on hold for the next few years. (Except for birthdays! E's birthday is 5/5, A's 6/12, and of course they're benefiting from my boundless love of frosting.) However, this will be the last cake I make for public consumption that could otherwise have been ordered from Costco. After ignoring all aspects of my motherly, wifely, and house-keeping duties for about a week, I made a giant birthday cake for my dad. German Chocolate. He requested the german chocolate, but didn't know how big it would be. It was going to be served after church, at what I thought was going to be a huge potluck barbeque birthday party. I was worried there wouldn't be enough cake for everyone. At the last minute, I made another layer. Each layer was a double batch of my recipe, in my new 14" X 14" pan. Three layers. Small potluck. It was a looooot of cake. We froze a bunch at church, so all the people who missed it the first time will be able to try it out.



I think I scored points with my dad for its sheer mass, as he is seriously into things that are heavy, strong, fast, or powerful. I have many childhood memories of him explaining exactly how powerful the chimpanzee in a certain story was, or how fast the guy moved in the wrestling match, or who would win a fight between a grizzly bear and a mountain lion, or exactly what force it would take to rip someone's arm off. He told me he tried to pick up the cake and guess its weight, but couldn't (pick it up, that is--it was heavy!) I think that bode well for him, and I can hear him now, years from now: "Keidi made the biggest cake I've ever seen, it was heavier than my desk." Happy Birthday, Daddio!

A Quick One, just the basics.

Eliana has four teeth, now.

Adessa asked me the other day: "Who glued our house together?" all matter of fact.

Calvin goes back to work tomorrow after almost 6 weeks of vacation. I told him 5 weeks into it that I don't know what all my stress and dysfunction about having two kids was about. I told him maybe it just takes 11 months of two kids for people to adjust. I told him that I was relaxed and really able to enjoy the girls and that I've arrived, I've made it to calm and peace in my mothering. I told him I was ready to start thinking about having another kid. I then told all this to my friend, Kim, who said: "Woah there, Keidi! Calvin's been on vacation." Duh. Of course I'm relaxed and wonderful at mothering. I have almost full time help in the form of my girls' favorite person. Thanks, Kim, you're right. Maybe we'll stick to the plan of another kid LATER.